Friday, November 16, 2012

The Unions Took My Twinkie Away...

Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of Wonder bread and Twinkies, said it will shut down and liquidate after a strike by members of its bakery workers’ union “crippled” the company’s operations.

“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” Chief Executive Officer Gregory F. Rayburn said in a statement. “Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”

Way to go, unions! Because you wouldn't budge on negotiations, your boss has taken their ball and gone home. Rather than make a few concessions, you're out of work. Union greed and short-sightedness has killed yet another business, but since it was a union decision and not Bain Capital the media doesn't give a rat's ass about it.

Unions are a thing of the past, a bygone relic of a different time when workers needed to band together else they be abused by management. Those days are long past; swept aside in the information age as no First World employer would dare maintain working conditions 1/10th as bad as those at the turn of the last century. Mandatory overtime, OSHA regulations, and many other automatic protections mean that unions are no longer necessary, and remain in place only through violence and status quo.

Unfortunately, instead of the unions admitting their mistake, they will likely encourage a number of voting sodaheads that the problem is actually the employer, and that the solution is to have the government force the company to stay in business, lest the government take over said business for free and toss the owners in jail.Might be a stretch, but after seeing some of the idiocy readily absorbed by the minds responsible for re-electing Obama, I can't see it being impossible, either.

@ theredneckengineer: The union is definitely blaming the company. In a report I saw earlier (and can't find to link now), the phrases "bad management" and "already lost our pensions" and "pay cuts" were among the quotes from the Union side.

But hey, the good news is, those 18,000+ workers who just lost their jobs won't have to worry... they'll be able to sign up for unemployment benefits. Yay!

A lot of the current economic discord started with the Clinton Administration and NAFTA, but you will never hear Madeline Albright say that. Industries that had been in the North had already moved to the South, only to then be relocated to Mexico before Chinese, Indian and other workers undercut them all in labor costs.

When the investors bought into Interstate Bakers a few years ago they evaluated the assets and liabilities of the company. The corporate name change to Hostess Brands reflected the value of their most famous brand. As part of the assessment, they probably decided that long range, profitability would only be achieved by selling off the properties and brands to competitors if restructuring of wages, pensions and other liabilities could not be achieved. Chapter 11 bankruptcy freed them from contractual obligations but with bankruptcy court oversight. Bankruptcy courts readily approve plant shutdowns and asset sell offs when it is apparent that profitability cannot be readily restored to maximize payout to the creditors.

The union going on strike against a company in Chapter 11 with dismal long term prospects is like bringing a knife to a gunfight, where the knife wielder did not imagine that the opponent had a gun, was proficient with it, and was prepared to use it. No fairzee!"I am gonna stick you like a pig!""No, you're not. BANG!!!"

Hey! Maybe this can be used during the next Presidential election, with testimonials by the laid off workers that some politician is to blame for their being out of work before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It worked this time, didn't it?

Have you ever seen the inside of a Hostess "Bakery".....?? They are highly automated and process controlled. All thoose Union "Bakers" mostly just stood around and watched and cleaned the equiptment in between runs.

Well, now the Union bosses know just how far they can push before the process breaks........... 15% Dues on a Union wage of $0.00 isn't much.

The union should just buy the company out of bankruptcy, hire their union brothers back with full benefits and pay increase, and then just sit back and watch all the dough roll in! Because running a business is easy, right?

Hostess brands is owned by vulture investors.They bought all the other food companies,loaded it with debt,tripled the executives pay,yet could not afford an 8 percent raise? Granted,its stupid to vote yourself out of a job,but it was only a matter of time til it all collapsed anyway.

Folks Who Support MArooned

What Others Are Saying About Me

A. Somewhere between having too many to fit in one safe and Jay G. (smijer & buck)"the Virtuoso of Vitriol" (AD)"If ever there was a zombie apocalypse, I’d want Jay watching my back." (Liberty)"...totally unhinged (but in a fun way)." (Marko)"...an insane yet friendly hybrid of Dr. Evil and John Malkovich..." (Lissa)"You, my friend, have a twisted mind!" (Old NFO)"Jay is a man I trust to watch my back, but I won't trust with my daughter." (Sigboy)"...the kind of guy my mother warned me about." (Brigid)"...bouncing off the walls sounding like Gonzo on crystal meth." (MedicMatthew)"Yeah, if we ever meet, I'd like you to not be mad." (Salamander)"Jay is an absolutely wonderfully crazy gun nut. " (Top of the Chain)"Enough snide remarks to power a space shuttle" (Snarky)"American Rage Boy" (Kevin Baker)"the Northeast Gunblogger's Social Secretary" (Borepatch)"the Godfather of the Northeast Gun Blogs" (Weer'd beard)"I though you'd be angrier." (Randy)"Gun pimp" (Robb Allen)"Well, Jay's not like that; turns out he's just like he is on the internet, only more so. And life-size. And in 3D" (Tam)

MArooned E-mail Policy

Blog Archive

Open Invitation for New Shooters

Just want to extend an open invitation to all potential new shooters in the Northern Virginia area. If you have never shot a firearm, or would like to get back into the shooting sports, or are an accomplished shooter who'd like to try something in my arsenal, give me a shout.

New shooters get range time, targets, gun use and ammo on me. I've even got extra eye and ear protection - all you have to do is show up.